For all the attention cybersecurity conferences receive, the experience of attending one can be exhausting for the people the industry is trying hardest to reach. Security leaders arrive with full calendars, crowded schedules and a steady stream of vendors competing for their attention.
Daylight Security is taking a different approach to Black Hat. Instead of using the event to build another traditional booth and ask CISOs to stop by, the company created the CISO Genie, a private concierge service built around helping security leaders navigate the conference.
The idea has now become the subject of two videos shared on LinkedIn by Hagai Shapira, Co-Founder and CEO of Daylight. The videos use a mix of workplace humor, cybersecurity references and exaggerated requests to tell a larger story about what it means to put CISOs at the center of the experience.
The first video introduces the CISO Genie as someone who specializes in handling the unusual demands of security executives.
“I grant wishes for CISOs. I investigate incidents, calm down executives, and convince security teams not to quit.”
From there, the character’s responsibilities become increasingly expansive. The genie is asked to arrange a quiet meeting room, a fresh shirt, a dinner reservation, private airport pickup and even a personal barber.
The three-wish limitation does not apply anymore.
“Used to be three. Then someone hacked the lamp. Changed it to unlimited.”
The Cost Of Getting CISOs’ Attention
The campaign’s central idea is captured in the opening line of Shapira’s LinkedIn post accompanying the first video: “A Black Hat booth costs about the same as taking care of 150 CISOs for an entire week. We chose the CISOs.”
It is a simple comparison, but it also explains why Daylight chose to make the CISO Genie the centerpiece of its Black Hat presence. Rather than competing with the hundreds of other companies looking to attract security leaders, the company is positioning itself as something closer to a service provider for the people attending the event.
The LinkedIn post describes the offering in practical terms: airport pickup, great coffee, a quiet room and a charger before a phone dies.
“Someone finally asking CISOs what they need, instead of asking for 15 minutes of their time.”
That idea is reinforced throughout the first video. When asked whether Black Hat is really as difficult as it sounds, the genie replies, “We classify Black Hat as a hostile environment.”
The joke continues with requests that are only loosely connected to cybersecurity. A CISO who forgot to buy a gift for his child is treated as though he has presented the genie with another security problem.
“Tell me that’s not a threat.”
The result is a campaign that makes the CISO the protagonist rather than the target of another sales pitch.
A Second Video Turns The Joke Up
Daylight followed the first video with a second installment that expands the CISO Genie’s fictional workload. Shapira’s post introduces it as episode two, while acknowledging the intentionally playful nature of the campaign.
“The concierge is real. The training academy is not.”
The video begins with a self-aware reference to the company’s branding: “Marketing said there wasn’t enough daylight branding in the first video, so we made a few adjustments.”
From there, the genie fields questions about everything from navigating Mandalay Bay to securing a difficult restaurant reservation. Asked about his most frustrating wish, he recalls a request for a table for eight at Carbone at 7 p.m.
“I’ve handled ransomware negotiations. This was harder.”
The second video also takes aim at the industry’s fascination with emerging technology terminology. When asked how the genie keeps up with everything, he launches into a routine that will be familiar to anyone who has followed recent cybersecurity marketing.
“We’re agentic! We’re agentic! We’re AI-native agentic! Again! More disruptive! Agentic! Every morning.”
Another highlight is the introduction of the quiet room, which is described as perhaps the most important room at Black Hat.
“Why are we whispering?”
“CISOs are recovering.”
The two videos ultimately work because the campaign does not take itself too seriously. Shapira’s second LinkedIn caption makes that explicit: “No thought leadership today. Just press play.”
But there is a more serious idea underneath the comedy. Daylight’s first post says the company was built around the belief that “security services should feel different. Less noise. Less friction. Better outcomes. More accountability.”
By turning that philosophy into a tangible experience, the CISO Genie gives Daylight a way to demonstrate its approach rather than simply describe it. At an industry event where security leaders are often surrounded by companies asking for their time, the campaign asks a different question: What if the industry spent more time asking what CISOs actually need?
John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.